Tide-water power



P. RENNOLDS.

TIDE WATER POWER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY21. 191

Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1- Z INVENTOR,

ATTORNEY P. J. RENNOLDS.

TIDE WAT ER POWER. I APPLICATION FILED MAY27, 1919.

. 1,333,443.- Patented Mar.9,1920.

V I; {1 A ATTORNEY P. J. RENNOLDS.

TIDE WATER POWER.

APPLICATEON FILED MAYZI. 1919.

0 w 3 1-H. 9 r a M E 3 m 3 P ATTORNEY MIB PHILIP, J. nnmronns; or NEW YonK, N. Y. 1

Specification of Letters Patent.

TID ATER- rowan.

Patented Ma. 9,192.0.

Application fil ed May 27, 1919'. Serial No. 300,085.

e To all whom it mag concern.-

' cities, towns, commercial districts, and the expense comparedv to the f power generated, and which will ut lize both the ebb and how. of the tide wlth one piece Be it known that I, PHILIP J. Rnmvonos,

a, citizenof the United States, and a resident of the city, county, and State-of New" York, have inventeda new and u'Sefulf'Improvement in Tide WateryPower, ofqwlnch the followingv is a" full, clear, and exact" descri tion. 2

y invention relates to improvements 1n apparatus for utilizing the-flow of tide wa-' ter to convert'itinto commercial power. My invention is intended especially to produce an apparatus which canbe used in. very cial useiin great quantitiesso as-to supply like. My invention" is further'an apparatus which does not relate so much todetail construction as torthe general organizationof a power plant adapted tojproduce power n' T a large scale, and the object of my invention is to produce a simple and reliable apparatus which can be installed at relatively small of apparatus, so as to get the maximum amount of power. from the tide. In carry- I ing out'this idea '1 preferably arrange myv .apparatu'sat'a point wherethere 18 a natural basin into, which the tide ebbs and flows from;the ocean orsome part thereof, and p locate my apparatus in thechan'nelconne'cting the basin and the sea, although obv1 ously an'artificial basin mightbe created,

or an artificial channel, oreither or'both can be improved. In carrying out my mv vention I arrange a raceway'connecting the "sea ,andthe basin throughwhich the tide will flow in and out, and in this raceway I arrange a series ofQvery large under-shot wheels, one behind the. other, so that'the flow-of water through the raceway will turn 1 the whole series of wheels, and. ironrthese power can be'taken and converted and d1stributed in any approved way, as for: in-

" stance by converting'it' into electrical enout, will give a constant motionto'the power,

'ergy, operating air compressors, or the direct application; of the power as" circum stances may require. preferably gear the whole series of'wheels to a common drlvlng shaft, and also have made provision whereby the wheels which will obviouslyturn'one way when the tide is coming'in, and' in the opposite. direction when the tldefls' going vention. large'units to generate powerifor commer shaft ,tozwhich the wheels are connected. lVIy'invention also relates to -further improvements in, the construction ofthe tide water power which will be hereinafter more particularly defined and claimed;

Reference is to be had to the accompanying dra-wings forming a p'artof this speci- I fication, mwhich similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in allthe vie'ws.

grammatic of an apparatus showing myin- F ig'. '2 is a broken side elevation on a very ;n1'uch enlarged scale, showing the ar Figure 1' is a plan view more or less diarangementofone of the water wheels in its raceway, V a I Fig. 3 is a detail section of one form'of shifting gear for connecting the wheel with thepower shaft.

Fig. 4 is a" sectional elevation partly diagrammatic, showing the general arrangemerit of the wheels. greatv amount of Fig; 5*is a cross section through the raceway andshows gates for partially control-Q ling the tide as hereinafter explained, and

of wheels which can. be used;

In Fig. 1 we will letv A represent'the, sea or some branch thereof where there is a tide; B abasin;,and1(l a channel connecting'the basin with the sea; Extending lengthwise .Figsy6' and 7 are details of modified forms of the channel is a racewaylO in which the vwater wheels are arranged, and'this can'be made 'ofconcrete or other suitable material,

and it'can be. provided at one or both ends with a flaring mouth 11 while opposite this atlthe same'endis arranged a suitable grid 12 which can b'eformed by spiles or. the like, to prevent 1cc or other matter f l'owingjtoo freely into theracewayr I have also shown the raceway provided with arms 13 extending across the channel to the adjacent land, and adaptedto support any necessary superstructure, but it will of course be understood that the power house and other accessories can'be arranged as desired, and have notlnng to do with this invention. The wheels 14 can 'beflany approved 'undershot wheels, and they are arranged 1n SGIIQS. one behlnd the other so that the current fiOWlllg through the raceway can be utilized to itsma-Ximum extent. The wheels should be of very large dlameter, and

their blades will dip into the tide flowing through the raceway. Each wheel is secured toan axle or shaft 15 turning in suit-' connected by a yoke 24 which has a nut 25 7 connected with the threaded portion 26 of a a supporting platform hereinafter referred to. The wheels 14 can gear to a common power shaft 21 in any suitable and COI1,-'

venient manner, but preferably by shifting 1 gears, and I have shown each wheel 14 driving a beveled gear wheel 17 meshing with sliding gears 22 which are keyed so as to slide on and turn with the power shaft 21,

and are spaced apart as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The hubs 23 of the gear wheels 22 are shifting rod 27 which can be turned manually or otherwise, and as each pair of gear wheels 22 is connected with the shifting ro'd it will be seen that they may all beshifted together direction can be given to the power shaft 21 I For instance, when thetide is flowing in one direction, .the right hand wheel 22 of each pair will connect with the gears 17 of each wheel, and when the tide and the current changes, the gears 22 will be shifted so as to bring the left hand gears 22 into engagement with the gears 17. The shaft 21 is shown supported in brackets 28 which like the brackets 16 are mounted on the platform 20, and this is supported on framework 19 adjacent to each wheel, and thus if the 7 wheels are very large the platform will enable a person to walk along adjacent to the wheels so as to inspect them or necessary work thereon.

.There is a period at about the turn of the tide when work cannotbe carried on efiec- .tively, and it is desirable to let the water out of the basin B quickly just before the turn of I the tide. To this end I have provided sluice gates for controlling the outflow and also the inflow of water, and these can be made high enough to impound any abnormally high tide which may flow into the basin.- To this end a dam 29 is run across the channel 0, and gates '30 are arranged to cover large openings through the dam, and thus the fiow can be to a certain eXtent' controlled, atleast when the water is high the gates can be dropped to impound it,=and when the tide is about to turn the gates can. be raised so as to let the last flow pass quickly through the channel 0. The gates are shown in a diagrammatic or general way, as obviously any suitable arrangement of this kind can be provided. As illustrated they are raised by chains 31 running on drums 32 which are large undershot water wheels can be used,

but pivoted blades can also be used to-advanthe water with less resistance.

perform any tage' on the wheels. For instance, I have shown the wheels in the main views provided with stationary straight paddle 35 arranged between the outerandinner rims 36 and 37, but as shown in Fig. 6 a rim 36 can be placed nearer the rim 37 and the inher part of the paddle 38 left stationary,

while the outer part 39 can-be swung one way or the other as shown in Fig. 6, so that the tide will have a better impact on the blade, and also to enable the blade to leave The several part 39 of the paddles or blades arep'ivoted as shown at 40 on the rim 36" and they can all be connected by an endless chain 41 running over a guide pulley 42 at some convenient point on the rim 36 and being 7 wound upon the drum 43 which is supported by turning the rod 27, and thus a constant in the framework of the wheel and can be turned by a crank 44. Thus when the tide "bers39 will be pushed as shown by full lines in Fig. 6, andwhen the tide is flowingin .the'opposite direction themembers 39 can f be shifted to the position shown byfdotted lines in the same figure. Any suitable shifting mechanism other than that shown can .be used, but as illustrated the wheels will be permitted to turn until the crank 44 comes to some point where it can be conveniently Y reached from theplatform 20, and the padudlem'emb'ers can then be shifted by turning the crank.

. Fromthe foregoing description it will, be seen that I have devised an apparatus in which power can be developed in great units and conveniently utilized. Further, that the details of the apparatus are not very important and can be changed toa great extent to meet particular conditions without affecting the invention, which lies .in the organization and arrangement of the apparatus.

is flowing in one direction the paddle mem- V 1. A tide water power comprising a--race-,

I way located ina channel connecting a basin way and controllingthe flow through the 7 channel. V

.2. A tide water power comprising a raceway located in a channel connecting a basin with a source of tide water so that part of f the water will flow through the raceway and partzthr'ough the channel, a-series of water wheels arranged one behind the other in theraceway, means for transmitting power from the water wheels, and means for controlling the flow of water through thechanvnel independently of the flow throughthe raceway. it

3. A tidewater power compr sing a raceway located in a channel connecting a basin with a source of tlde water so that a part of the water will flow through the channel,

and part through the raceway, a series of iunder shot water wheels arranged one bemeans for controllin 4. A tide water power comprising a channel connecting a basin with a source of tide water, a raceway for water wheels arranged to receive a art of the flow of water be-.

' tween the basin and the source of tide water, and means independent of the raceway for controlling the flow of water through the I channel. r v

' PHILIP J. RENNOLDS;

Witnesses: a V

VVARREN B. HUTOHINSON,

M. G. QDONNELL. 

